Happy Girl
by DragonShadow
Summary: Growing Up Creepie - Six months ago Chris-Alice Hollyruller was forced to do something more horrible than she ever imagined. Now the consequences of those actions are taking their toll on her mind. Can her friends save her sanity?
1. Chapter 1

(Author's Note: This story is episode 1 of the new "Growing Up Creepier" series, a sequel series to "Being Born Creepie".

As usual, updates once per day for the next three days.

Rated "T" for blood and mature themes. Reader discretion is advised)

"Growing Up Creepier" Episode 01:

Happy Girl Part 1

Chris-Alice closed her eyes and gripped the arms of her chair, taking several deep breaths to steady herself. Clear her mind, focus on her objective. That was what her sensei had always told her in her Karate classes. If she could clear her mind of everything except what she wanted to do, then she could do anything. She could reach Dr. Gerald, she could get her hands on his weapon, and she could save her best friend…

Suddenly her eyes snapped open and she launched herself forward, ignoring the tears of fear and worry that flew into the air around her. The chair launched back, alerting the doctor that she'd risen from it, but the gun was only halfway around when she reached him and brought both hands up underneath it, launching it into the air over the console.

Chris-Alice jumped up onto the console and leapt for the weapon, leaping at the same time that Dr. Gerald reached his hand up for it. Chris-Alice's heart stopped beating when her hand touched the pommel, gripping it tightly in her hand with one finger coming down on the trigger, pressing it in. Wait, she thought, which way was the barrel aiming? She hadn't been paying attention, but it was too late now. The weapon erupted in a flash of sparks and a thunderous bang whose sound echoed far through the empty hallways outside the door.

Chris-Alice came back down heavily, bouncing off of the control panel as the gun tumbled from her hand. She slammed into the floor below the control panel with a pained grunt and took a few moments to recover with her eyes closed. The room was eerily silent except for the soft sound of her breath echoing from her chest. Her hand moved slowly above her head, slipping across the smooth metal until suddenly her fingers touched something thick and wet.

On arms shaking from fear and panic, she slowly pushed herself up from the floor and opened her eyes. Her eyes turned downward at first, seeing her fingers covered in dark red liquid, on the ground right next to a wide, and increasingly large pool of it. Slowly her eyes rose across the floor, her heartbeat racing faster and faster as they moved across the large, glistening pool of red. There was so much of it, for a moment it was like she was going to drown in it.

Her heart stopped, she was sure of it, when there in the center of the wide pool of glistening blood she saw the body of her best friend, Creepie Creecher. Her large violet eyes were staring coldly at the ceiling, as her beautiful multicolored gossamer wings were drowned out by the thick blood that now coated every inch of them, pouring from her body in an unstoppable torrent. Chris-Alice opened her mouth, but she couldn't say anything. She struggled to make her tongue work, to make any sound at all, even a scream.

"CREEPIE!" Chris-Alice screamed as she sat bolt-upright in her bed. She could feel the cold sweat all over her body, soaking the dainty pink nightgown she wore in the darkness of her bedroom. Her heart was racing so fast that it was beginning to hurt, a strong counterpoint to the tears she felt washing down her cheeks. For a moment she sat confused upright in her bed, then her hands reached quickly for the phone on her nightstand.

Her quaking hands barely managed to snatch up the receiver and lift it into her lap, clumsily pressing the keypad over and over until finally she managed to get the number right. She raised the receiver to her ears with both hands to keep it steady. She couldn't stand the wait, but there was nothing else she could do besides listen to the steady ringing through the headset. Nine, ten, eleven, she counted the rings. She gulped in fear and worry, but her heart leapt when she finally heard the soft click on the other end of the line.

"Hello?" Creepie's low, grumbling voice came over the phone irritably. "Who is this?"

"C-Creepie…" Chris-Alice heaved a sigh of relief and closed her eyes.

"Chris-Alice?" Creepie asked curiously. "What're you doing? It's three AM on a school night."

"I kn-know, sorry." Chris-Alice gulped, trying unsuccessfully to steady her quaking voice. "I just needed to hear your voice, I guess."

"Chris-Alice? Are you crying?" Creepie's voice softened a bit.

"No-nono." Chris-Alice insisted quickly. "I just… sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up. Goodnight." Chris-Alice hung up the phone before Creepie could respond and let the receiver fall into her lap. She leaned back against her headboard, fighting back against the tears and sobs that threatened to overwhelm her. She fought her hardest, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't hold them back. She hugged her knees against her chest and leaned against her headboard, giving up and letting the tears flow.

* * *

Creepie Creecher's locker closed with a bang and she slipped the padlock into place on the handle, leaving her math book nestled snugly in with the rest of her things. Her blue-haired hand patted the lock for a moment before she moved away, the gossamer wings on her back swaying against the soft, refreshing breeze that blew through the hallways of Middlington Middle School. She smiled slightly at the sensation and turned to head down the hallway with her long arms swaying at her sides.

It had been six months since the incident with the Rembrandt Corporation, and things had mostly returned to normal. Her birthmother, Maria Suarez, had proven to be very good with legal stuff, and quickly managed to turn what could have been a disaster for Creepie into a huge victory against her former employers. Creepie had even been allowed to stay with the Creecher family who, due to their unusual insect sentience, had been declared legal U.S. citizens. It was a strange move, but everything had worked out wonderfully for Creepie. Even Maria had decided to stay in Middlington, though she didn't try to take custody of Creepie, for which she was thankful.

"Hey, Creepzilla!" Creepie stopped and looked back over her shoulder to see Carla approaching and waving one hand, with a small clipboard held in her other. Melanie had taken up her usual position beside her. "As you know, the end of the school year is coming fast, which means goodbye to Middlington Middle School."

"And hello Middlington High." Melanie grinned. "I can't wait!"

"Right." Carla smirked slightly and turned back to Creepie. "And Middlington tradition says at the end of their final year of Middle School, students can put on a show to say goodbye to the rest of the classmates they're leaving behind." Carla raised a pen to the notepad. "You think you're gonna want to participate?"

"I don't think so, public performances aren't really my thing." Creepie shook her head. "I'm sure Chris-Alice will drag me into her show somehow, though."

Carla exchanged a glance with Melanie and cleared her throat. "Actually, Chris-Alice already said she's not interested."

"What?" Creepie gasped with genuine surprise. "But Chris-Alice loves putting on shows and performing. She practically lives for it."

"I know, I was surprised too." Carla shrugged, though she looked just as confused as Creepie felt. "But if she doesn't wanna do it, we can't really make her."

"I'll have a talk with her." Creepie insisted. "Thanks for the offer, but I don't think I want to be involved with this thing."

"Hey, no big. Miss Monseratte just asked me to make a list of names. You know where to find me if you change your mind though." Carla waved and turned to leave with Melanie. Creepie waved after the two of them, then turned to head the other direction with her hands clasped behind her back. Chris-Alice had been acting strange lately, but for her to turn down a chance to put on a show was just downright weird.

Creepie walked through the entire school as the students filed out of the front doors, but she couldn't find her redheaded friend anywhere. Finally after almost every other student had left she stood outside the school doors with her arms crossed over her stomach. By now she was very worried about her friend, it wasn't like her to spend the day avoiding Creepie… something had to be seriously wrong with her.

Her wings beat suddenly at the afternoon air and Creepie kicked off the ground into the sky, hovering high into the air over the small town of Middlington. It spread out below her, haloed in the bright yellow light of the sun and the crisp blue sky as she flew overhead, an undetectable speck against the bright blue backdrop of the sky. She flew the short distance until she saw Chris-Alice's house looming below her. Her eyes narrowed when she saw her friend walking up the steps to the door, her arms wrapped tightly around her books.

Creepie moved through the sky toward Chris-Alice, but her friend disappeared into her house before Creepie could reach her. She hovered down in front of the house for a moment, then moved up to the second story to look into Chris-Alice's bedroom. She watched her friend enter, dropping the books limply on the desk beside her door and then falling back onto her bed like a log, where she remained still for longer than Creepie had ever seen her hold still before.

After watching enough of this, Creepie floated closer to the window and rapped lightly on the glass with her knuckle. Chris-Alice gasped and looked up, then crawled over to the bed to pull the window open. "Creepie? What's up?"

"You tell me." Creepie replied. Chris-Alice scooted back so Creepie could pull herself into the window and settle onto her butt on the bed. "Why were you avoiding me at school?"

"Avoiding you? I wasn't!" Chris-Alice shook her head vigorously. "I just… had a lot on my mind is all. So many plans to make for the future. Only a few years of school left before we have to set out on our own. I want to be prepared."

"Uh-huh." Creepie cocked one eyebrow.

"Really, I have all sorts of plans." Chris-Alice moved to slide off the bed, but she was stopped by Creepie grabbing her wrist. She looked back with a nervous smile on her face. "Creepie? What is it?"

"Carla said you declined a chance to put on a show for the school." Creepie stared at her friend intently. "Is there something wrong you'd like to talk about?"

"Wrong? With me?" Chris-Alice laughed at the very idea, a light chirp of a laugh that sounded genuine enough. "Creepie, you're so silly sometimes. Nothing's ever wrong with me! I just don't have time right now, between martial arts classes and cheerleading and family business."

"I guess that makes sense. I was just worried there was something on your mind." Creepie hesitated a moment before speaking again. "You haven't really been yourself since…" She trailed off.

"Oh Creepie, all in the past." Chris-Alice flashed her a light, comforting smile. "I'm right as rain and fine as a feather, so don't worry about me, okay?"

"Well, alright." Creepie nodded slowly. "Just don't be a stranger. I'm still around."

"Of course. Now if you'll excuse me, I have other important things to take care of. A busy schedule is a good schedule." Chris-Alice pushed Creepie suddenly straight out the second-story window, a move that caught Creepie off-guard. It took her a moment to remember to beat her wings and stay airborne rather than let herself plummet to the grass below. She hovered quickly back up to her friend's window, but the window was already closed with the soft blue curtains drawn over them, blocking her view.

Creepie narrowed her eyes, but she didn't want to anger her gentle friend, so she turned to fly away from her house toward home.

* * *

Chris-Alice sat in her dining room later in the evening, staring down at the plate of spaghetti that her mother had set down for her. The sight of it made her stomach churn, so she pushed it away slightly and instead focused on sipping slowly at her glass of milk so that her parents wouldn't notice her not eating. They didn't even glance at her, too busy talking back and forth about the day's work each of them had put in. Her father going into detail about the insects he'd encountered and exterminated while her mother yammered on about business deals and property values.

She watched her parents talk with a silent gaze, then gasped when suddenly her mind's eye flashed for an instant to something that made her stomach begin doing flip-flops inside her body. Instantly Chris-Alice slid off of her seat and plucked her plate off of the table. "May I be excused, mother?"

"Of course, sweetie." Mrs. Hollyruller replied with a bright smile. If she'd looked down she would have noticed Chris-Alice's full plate, but instead she turned forward again to continue her conversation with her husband George.

This suited her fine, Chris-Alice turned to walk into the kitchen and dump her spaghetti into the trash can before approaching the sink and washing the plate thoroughly. Once she'd finished that she stopped in the middle of the kitchen… just stopped and stated at the door with a blank gaze as if it was going to come get her. Something was spinning around her mind… what was it? She could feel the tears pressing against her eyes, it was a feeling she'd been getting more and more used to lately. She wasn't even sure why it happened anymore… no, that wasn't true. She knew exactly why it was happening… she just didn't know what to do about it.

Her head turned to sweep across the kitchen, incidentally sweeping past the clock hanging on the wall. It was a little after seven… wait, now she remembered! "Soggy muffins! I forgot cheerleading practice! We have the final game this week too!" Chris-Alice exclaimed in dismay and turned to charge up to her room, yelling a quick explanation at her parents as she passed. She was out the door in her cheerleading uniform seconds later, dashing down the street to the Middlington Middle School courtyard in the last golden rays of the evening.

She arrived panting for breath to find the rest of the cheerleading squad mingling in the middle of the field chatting in low tones. "I'm here! I'm sorry, I lost track of the time!" Chris-Alice huffed as she ran to join them.

"Hey, you showed up… just not on time." Carla smirked slightly. "We were just about to call it a night."

"What!? Nono, I still have practicing to do! I have to nail the aerial pirouette! I can't do it by myself" Chris-Alice complained.

"It's nothing to wig out over, your pirouette is fine, and we still have a few days before the big game." Carla pointed out.

"Fine? Fine!?" Chris-Alice shrieked. "Fine isn't good enough! My pirouette needs to be PERFECT!" Chris-Alice whirled away from her and grabbed at her hair in frustration, yanking it down around her shoulders. "I should have nailed it weeks ago! Why can't I do it right!?" She gasped when her hands jerked downward suddenly, and looked in surprise to see that she was holding two clumps of bright red hair in her hands.

"Geeze! That had to hurt…" Carla rushed up beside her and took one of her arms in her hands. "Be careful, you don't want to go bald right before the game."

"S-sorry. I just…" Chris-Alice stared down at the hair in her hands, then looked up at Carla. For an instant Carla looked unnaturally pale, and was framed by the orange-red light of the setting sun, looking a lot like a pool of blood gathering behind her body. She knew it was a trick of the light, but still it was enough to send Chris-Alice's mind into a frenzy, clutching at her hair and panting.

"Chris-Alice?" Carla asked worriedly.

"S-sorry! I just remembered I have to go!" Chris-Alice turned to sprint away from the other cheerleaders, leaving her bright red hairs to flutter to the grass in the breeze while she ran away as fast as her legs could take her. She ignored Carla's confused yells from behind her, her feet pounding down the sidewalk at a furious sprint that carried her across half of Middlington before she just couldn't run anymore.

Her heart was still racing, but her legs wouldn't take her any further. They gave out without warning, locking into place and sending her hurtling head-first into the sidewalk. "Oowwwwie!" Chris-Alice cried in pain and clutched at the ground, though she made no move to get up. She could feel tears on her cheeks again, no matter how vigorously she tried to wipe them off with the back of her hand. They continued to flow, sparkling on her hand against the last traces of the sun's golden light.

"Man…" Chris-Alice sobbed on the ground. "What am I supposed to do now?" Instead of getting up from the sidewalk, she curled up into a tight ball and closed her eyes, trying to drown out the omnipresent memory that bore its way back to the surface. "What's wrong with me…?"

TO BE CONTINUED


	2. Chapter 2

Happy Girl Part 2

The wailing of guitars and the pounding of drums was joined from inside of the garage by the screech of bagpipes to float in harmony through the black night outside. It felt good to make music, Raven thought to herself as her fingers plucked rapidly at the strings of the guitar that hung against her hips. It was one of the only times she truly felt like she was expressing herself. The other members of the Plaid Vapors, including Creepie Creecher, played their own instruments until after a few minutes the song came to an end.

Creepie lowered her bagpipes with a mock sigh. "I knew someone would drag me into the show."

"Come on Creepie, you know the Plaid Vapors can't perform without you." Misery Whispers pointed out.

"The bagpipes are what make us unique among all those other death metal bands." Raven added with her usual stony face. "We don't follow the crowd with nothing but wailing guitars. We're individuals."

"I can't argue with that." Creepie kept her own face stonily blank and squeezed her bagpipe against her chest. "I kind of like playing them anyway."

"Then let's not wait any longer." Raven raised her guitar pick to her strings again. "One… two…" Raven's count was interrupted by the sound of loud banging and yelling on her garage door. The four members of the band exchanged a long glance before Raven approached the controls on the wall to open the garage door. It wasn't more than two feet open before Carla slipped underneath the door, her face pale and her breath ragged.

"Chris-Alice…" Carla panted heavily. "She's missing."

"Missing?" Creepie's eyes went wide.

"Define missing." Raven suggested.

"Missing! Missing as in she ran off from the school and never went home!" Carla shouted angrily. "Open your ears emo-girl!"

Raven raised one eyebrow. "Well that was uncalled for. I didn't even know you liked her anyway."

"Excuse me?" Carla growled coldly.

"You treat her like a nuisance, is all I'm saying." Raven shrugged. "It's no wonder she wouldn't want to stick around you for long."

"Stop it!" Creepie stepped between them before Carla could fight back any further, pushing them apart and looking back and forth between them. "This is serious, we have to find Chris-Alice."

"Yeah, that's right." Carla glared at Raven for a moment, then looked at Creepie again. "She looked seriously freaked out when she left. I mean REALLY freaked out. I already told her parents and they're looking, but I thought the more of us there are, especially with your wings…"

"Good thinking. We should split up and search the city." Creepie walked out of the garage with Carla and the three band members following close on her heels. "I hope everyone has their cell phones… I know you do, Carla."

"Never leave home without it." Carla grinned. "Always be prepared, as they say in scouts."

"Somehow I don't think gluing a phone to your head so you can yammer about boys constantly is exactly what they have in mind when they say that." Raven shrugged. "Call it a hunch."

"Enough. Let's go!" Creepie's wings beat at the air, and in a flash she vanished into the dark night sky. Carla watched her go, then shot Raven one more nasty glare before turning to jog away down the sidewalk.

Raven turned back to her two companions and band mates. "You heard the girl. Scatter and help look for Chris-Alice. Let's go." Raven turned to walk down the sidewalk, while Morpheus and Misery Whispers went down different directions.

It was a nice, dark night, Raven thought to herself as her feet plodded steadily down the sidewalk under the dim light of the half-moon. It was the kind of night she often enjoyed being out on the town, no matter how much her mother wished she would stay at home like a good little girl. She wasn't rebellious, really, she just enjoyed the night more than she did the day. Some might call her 'emo' or a 'goth', but she just called herself 'nocturnal'.

Now, however, she had a mission, and she was going to do it to the best of her ability. She'd never gotten along that well with Chris-Alice. She was too upbeat for Raven's tastes. Being around her was like being around a hyperactive three-year-old on pixie sticks, it was pretty annoying. Still, she considered Creepie a good friend and beyond that, she wasn't heartless enough to let Chris-Alice just disappear without bothering to look for her. She didn't expect to find her anyway, the chances of that were pretty small.

That was why she stopped in surprise when she saw a small body lying on the sidewalk in front of her, curled up in a small ball on its side. For a moment Raven's heart leapt and she rushed forward, but her steps slowed when she realized that she wasn't dead… she was sleeping. Her face in the dim moonlight was unusually calm and peaceful, while the moon played off of the tear streaks that ran down her cheeks to disappear under her chin. It was a sight Raven had never expected to see.

Raven slowly approached the unconscious girl, pulling her cell phone out of her dress to dial Creepie's number. She was standing over Chris-Alice by the time Creepie answered. "Creepie, I found her. She's asleep on Pinewood Avenue."

"That's great!" Creepie heaved a sigh of relief over the phone. "Stay with her, we're on our way."

"Right." Raven hung up and tucked the phone away, only to realize that her short conversation had awakened the sleeping girl. Chris-Alice was looking up at her with a dazed expression on her face, her limbs still resting tired on the ground. After a few moments of silence Raven knelt down to take one of Chris-Alice's arms in her own and pull her up to a sitting position. "There you go. You're gonna hurt your back lying on the sidewalk."

"S-sorry…" Chris-Alice sniffed lightly and looked away from her. "Guess I just d-dozed off…"

"Out here?" Raven sat down beside her, letting one leg rest on the street in front of them. "I don't get it. What are you doing out here? Why are you crying? What do you have to cry about?"

"It's nothing…" Chris-Alice gulped. "I don't know, I just… it…"

"What?" Raven smirked, ready for a speech about how the world was so tough and her parents didn't understand her and blah blah blah. So many people just decided to turn 'dark' without knowing anything about the lifestyle. It was annoying, especially when someone like this did it, who had no reason to worry about anything in the world.

"I killed someone, Raven…" Chris-Alice folded her legs in front of her and buried her hands in her lap. Raven's eyes widened and she watched the redhead fight against another wave of tears. "I killed someone… he'll never come back, I killed him!"

"Th-that was…" Raven blinked. This was serious, wasn't it? This wasn't some play acting emo crap, this girl was really losing it. She had to pick her words carefully. "Creepie said if you didn't, she'd be dead. You're a hero."

"I know, I know! Everyone said that after it happened but… but did you know he had a wife?" Chris-Alice turned her red, watery eyes on Raven. "He had a wife, and three kids! I killed a father! I killed a husband! Maybe…" Chris-Alice gulped again. "Maybe if I'd been more careful, aimed a bit, maybe if I hadn't acted like such a total spazz I could've just STOPPED him without… without…" Chris-Alice closed her eyes and punched at the sidewalk. "But I didn't and now I just k-keep picturing all of my closest friends in that pool of blood… and I don't know how to stop!"

"Chris-Alice…" Raven could only stare in shock as the usually happy-go-lucky girl lost it right in front of her. It was like nothing she'd ever seen before. She'd always scoffed at those who looked upset. What did they have to be upset about anyway? It was always something ridiculous that wasn't worth getting upset about. Now watching this display before her, she desperately wanted just to make it end, but she had no idea how.

"How do I stop it?" Chris-Alice sobbed into her hands, clutching at her eyes with a fierce, claw-like grip. "I don't want to see these things anymore!"

"Hey, don't do THAT!" Raven snatched Chris-Alice's wrists away from her eyes before she could hurt herself. Yanking Chris-Alice's arms forward, she hadn't expected Chris-Alice to fall forward with them, falling against Raven's body and knocking her back to the sidewalk. Now Raven lay on her back, stunned, with Chris-Alice sobbing into her chest. Raven just stared in surprise for a few moments, then tentatively wrapped her arms around the redhead's back in a comforting gesture. "Maybe the others will know a way."

"No!" Chris-Alice looked up in a panic. "Please, don't tell anyone! I don't want anyone to worry about me!"

"Well… alright. I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to." Raven nodded slightly.

Chris-Alice breathed a soft sigh of relief and shot her a smile through her tears. "Thank you." Raven stared down at her for a moment, still trying to come up with a solution to this. It was completely out of character for Chris-Alice, and well outside of Raven's own area of expertise. She tried to think of something else to say, anything really, but she could think of nothing that wouldn't sound stupid and contrived, so she closed her mouth.

They remained silent until they saw the lights of a car fast approaching down the road toward, with the slender shadow of Creepie's insect form hovering through the night sky toward them. Chris-Alice gasped and rushed to dry her eyes with the bottom of her cheerleading uniform while Raven just watched her with a blank, confused gaze.

* * *

Three days later, it was as if everything had returned to normal. Chris-Alice showed no sign of the desperation she had shown Raven on the street that night, in fact according to Carla she was even getting more energetic than ever about the cheerleading performance during the last football game of their Middle School lives. It looked like whatever happened to Chris-Alice was over now. Raven didn't trust it, though true to her word she didn't tell a soul what had happened.

"Which song do you think we should play at the show?" Misery Whispers asked in his usual droll tone as the three core members of the Plaid Vapors made their way through the Middlington Middle School hallway. "I think we should get their attention with one of the hard songs."

"Rotten Corpse, maybe?" Raven stopped at her locker to drop off her books before turning to walk with her friends down the hallways. "I'm not sure Miss Monseratte would go for something like that though."

"Yeah, that's true. She would freak… but that would make it fun." Misery Whispers pointed out.

"I like the way you think." Raven nodded, then they both glanced up at their massive friend. "What do you think, Morpheus?" They both turned to watch him for a moment as he stared down at her with an intense gaze behind his dark glasses. "Yeah, that's another good point. Getting expelled two weeks before graduation wouldn't be a good idea."

"That's why you're the brains of this band." Misery Whispers patted Morpheus' arm and the three of them turned to head outside of the school into the bright, cheerful summer light that beat down on the town.

Raven glared up at the sun like it was a hated enemy, then walked down the walkway with Misery Whispers and Morpheus trailing right behind her. Her eyes scanned the schoolyard where a few students were still milling around. Some were reading under the shade of a tree, while she caught sight of one couple making out around the corner of the building. Her gaze stopped, however, when she caught sight of Chris-Alice sitting on one of the lower bars of the monkey bars, holding the sides tightly and swinging forward and backward with a blank look on her face.

"Hey, you guys go on ahead. I'll catch up with you, alright?" Raven suggested.

"Alright, we'll tune your guitar for practice." Misery Whispers and Morpheus waved as they turned to leave the school, leaving Raven alone to make her way over to the redhead on the monkey bars.

She moved beside Chris-Alice and perched on the bar without the redhead even noticing. She seemed to be off in la-la land, with her eyes looking toward the ground, but completely unfocused. "You want to… um… talk about it?" Raven asked.

"Oh!" Chris-Alice jumped and looked at her in surprise, then blushed as she relaxed against one of the bars. "Sorry, I didn't see you there." She shook her head. "I've… actually been trying not to talk about it, or think about it. I think it's working… as long as I keep busy it seems to get better and I can ignore it."

"I'm not sure what a good idea that is." Raven swung her legs idly and leaned against the bar nearest to Chris-Alice, looking down at the ground in front of her. "Not that I can tell you what to do. It's your life, and it's not like you and I have been the best of friends in the past. I just don't want to see you completely lose your mind and end up in crazy town." Raven looked up when she saw a shadow suddenly appear over her. Before she could react, Chris-Alice had her wrapped in a tight hug. "Guh? Chris-Alice?"

"Thanks for caring." Chris-Alice pulled back with a broad smile on her face, and a few tears in her eyes. She wiped away the tears with the back of one hand before speaking again. "Maybe you didn't think of me as a friend before… but I think you're a great one now." She gasped suddenly and glanced down at her watch. "Sorry, but I just remembered I have cheer practice tonight! I can't be late, I still have to perfect my pirouette! I'll see you later some time!" Just like that Chris-Alice whirled to run away, leaving Raven in a confused daze on the monkey bars.

"Sure… later." Raven muttered numbly long after the redhead had gone.

TO BE CONTINUED


	3. Chapter 3

Happy Girl Part 3

The five girls stood in a row in the middle of the Middlington central park, striking confident poses with their pom-poms clutched tightly in their fists. They breathed in slow, steady breaths, mentally preparing themselves for the rigors they were about to inflict upon themselves. Suddenly they opened their eyes and struck a strong stand, opening their legs on the grass and thrusting their arms in front of them.

"We're the ones who're gonna win! Your team's fit for the bargain bin! Bullfrogs! Bullfrogs!" Carla and one of the other cheerleaders spun inward from the sides in front of their three companions, taking their hands and rapidly boosting themselves up to their shoulders, facing backwards. "We're the best and that's no lie, we're so hot that our team flies!" As their last chant came to an end Chris-Alice flipped up to the group of girls, somersaulting backwards until the bottom row of girls caught her feet and sent her flying upward like a spring.

Chris-Alice used their leverage to leap over the top of the two-tier human pyramid, flipping over the back and coming down foot first. Carla and her companion caught Chris-Alice's feet as she passed and gave her another boost high into the air. Chris-Alice spun in a sharp spin as she flew several feet over the pyramid, tucking her arms and legs tightly against her body so that only her ponytail whipped through the air until she came down, landing with a light step on her teammates' shoulders and spreading her arms above her head as they all screamed in unison. "BULLFROGS!"

They held their pose for a moment, before Carla spoke from below her. "Oh yeah, I think we've got this in the bag."

"No no no, my knees bent too much on the landing. It looked sloppy." Chris-Alice groaned. "We have to try it again."

"Again?" The girl beside Carla snapped. "This is the twentieth time! If we keep this up much longer my shoulder's gonna bruise!"

Chris-Alice let herself drop off the front of the pyramid, letting the girls on the bottom catch her and lower her to the grass before Carla and her companion jumped to the grass as well. "We can't put on a sloppy performance at the biggest game of the year! The football team… no, the entire town is counting on us to pump up maximum school spirit!"

"There's always tomorrow." One of the girls grumped irritably.

"No there isn't! Tomorrow is the big game! If it's not perfect tonight it never will be!" Chris-Alice yelled frantically.

"Chris-Alice!" Carla grabbed her shoulders and yanked her away from the rest of the squad by her wrist. "We need to have a little girl-chat. Like, now." Chris-Alice grumbled a few frantic objections, but offered no real resistance as she was pulled out of earshot of the other girls. Once they were far enough away, Carla turned to her and rested her hands on her hips. "Now look, we're sweaty, hungry, and tired, and we're not doing this anymore today."

"The people are counting on us!" Chris-Alice insisted.

"Nobody's going to care if you bend your knees! You look great, that's what matters!" Chris-Alice opened her mouth to protest some more, but Carla raised her index finger and pushed it against her lips to stop her. "End of story, Chris-Alice. I'll see you at the game tomorrow. For now just… just get some rest. You don't need to be stressing like this, okay?" After fixing her with one more long glance, Carla turned to jog back to the other cheerleaders.

Chris-Alice opened her mouth a few times, then finally thought of something to shout after her. "This is mutiny you know!" Her words went ignored however, so she threw up her pom-poms uselessly and turned to head toward home, trying to calm herself down on the way. She hurried as fast as she could, until by the time she reached her house she'd broken into a full-on jog. She rushed inside and ran upstairs before her parents could stop her.

Her door had barely closed behind her before she jumped up onto her thick bed and turned to look down at the floor, holding her arms out to the sides. "Okay, I can get this." After taking a deep breath she leapt off of the bed with a spin, coming down hard on the floor. She landed on her feet, but she still felt her knees buckle as her body continued to twist from the spin. "No! That's not it!" She turned to climb back up on the bed.

She didn't bother keeping track of how many times she jumped. Several times she blew the landing completely and slammed into the floor on her knees and elbows, but she refused to give up, jumping again and again and again until her legs started to shake. Her mind was blank, and she was feeling good after so much exercise, no matter how much her legs began to ache or how hard her heart was pounding. She didn't give herself time to think of anything else but perfecting this move, that is, until she spun off the bed and her feet slipped out from under her completely, sending her tumbling face first into her dresser with a thump. The lamp on top of the dresser leapt forward from the impact and plummeted to the carpet, shattering on impact in a shower of sparks and glass.

The world spun in a blurred haze of barely-perceptible motion as she lay on her back on the carpet, raising one trembling hand to her suddenly throbbing head. When she pulled her hand back, her fingers were coated with thick red blood. She just stared up at them blankly until she heard her bedroom door click open and her mother stepped inside. "Chris-Alice? We heard something-Chris-Alice!?" She yelled in panic and rushed to Chris-Alice's side, kneeling beside her and cradling her up against her stomach. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah… I fell down." Chris-Alice spoke in a slightly shivering voice.

"Come on, we've got to get that taken care of." Her mother stood up, pulling Chris-Alice up from the carpet and supporting her as they both moved through the house, down the stairs to the kitchen where her mother took a wet washcloth and a small roll of bandages to begin washing Chris-Alice's head with a gentle touch. "You need to be careful, Chris-Alice. I know you like to push yourself, but you don't want to go too far."

"I can't do it." Chris-Alice muttered softly.

"Huh?" Her mother looked at her eyes, which were already getting moist again. "What do you mean?"

"I can't do it…" Chris-Alice muttered softly again. That was all she had to say.

* * *

A knock on Creepie's door drew her out of the thick hardback book she'd had her nose buried in for most of the day. "Coming!" She slipped her bookmark into place and slid off of the living room sofa, stepping lightly between the various bugs playing and running through the house until she reached the door and pulled it open. She blinked in surprise when she saw her pink-haired friend standing on the other side of the door. "Raven? Did I miss music practice?"

"No." Raven fidgeted slightly. "I need to talk to you about some things." She gestured for Creepie to follow and walked outside. Curiously, Creepie followed close behind her. Creepie had expected to discuss what songs they would play at the end-of-year show, not to hear so much worrying information about Chris-Alice. Raven spilled everything, seemingly unable to keep herself from talking once the flood had started.

After she'd finished, Creepie stood with one hand on her chin and a worried look on her face. "Wow… how long do you think this has been going on?"

"I don't know, but I'm afraid she may be getting to a breaking point." Raven wrung her hands nervously in front of her, showing more emotion than Creepie had ever seen on her usually stony cold friend. "I don't know what to do about it. I don't want to squeal to any adults either; I promised her I would keep it a secret."

"Well, I know one adult who wouldn't squeal to anyone, and she might be able to help us. Come on." Creepie turned to lead the way down the sidewalk. After a short while they approached a smaller house on the outskirts of town and Creepie rapped loudly on the door. After a few moments an older woman with soft mocha colored skin and deep brown eyes hidden behind a pair of thick round-rimmed glasses underneath short black hair.

"Good evening, Maria." Creepie smiled. "Sorry if we're interrupting anything."

"Not at all, I was just reading. Please, come in." Maria stepped aside to let the two girls into her small home. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Raven, she has something she wanted to ask you." Creepie glanced at her friend.

"Yeah…" Raven hesitated a moment before telling Maria everything she'd told Creepie a little while ago. By the time she finished, the three girls had moved into the living room, where Maria leaned back in her thick recliner and stroked her chin with one hand, her brown eyes peering at Raven through her thick glasses.

"She said she keeps seeing the pool of blood?" Maria asked.

"Uh-huh." Raven nodded. "Do you know what's wrong with her?"

"Well, I'm no psychologist, but it sounds like what you're describing is related to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder." When she noticed the younger girls' plank gazes, she continued. "It's when something traumatic happens to you that your normal psychological coping mechanisms aren't prepared to deal with. In many cases this can cause a person to relive the experience again and again, and has horrible repercussions for their social lives."

"What can we do about it?" Raven asked.

"If this is what's wrong with her, you have to get her help. Immediately." Maria looked back and forth between the two of them. "This isn't something a few smiles and a friendly shoulder can fix; you have to convince her to go to a doctor."

"But she has her big game to cheer at tomorrow. I doubt she'll go before that's over." Creepie pointed out.

"We'll wait until after the game, then." Raven nodded. "I'll talk to her after it's over." She stood up from her chair, looking uncharacteristically determined. Creepie wondered for a moment what made her act so differently now than she usually did… but then, their friend was in trouble. Who wouldn't want to help?

* * *

The roar of the crowds was deafening. People really got into this school spirit thing, Raven thought to herself as she looked around at the packed crowds the next day. Students and parents from both teams were packed into the bleachers as the football game progressed, hooting and yelling along with the action on the field. Raven wasn't very interested in the game despite having front row seats with Creepie, Skipper, and Budge. Her mind was preoccupied trying to decide what she would say to Chris-Alice when she got a chance to talk to her. What could she say?

"Touchdown!" A voice screamed over the school's PA system while half of the crowd roared their approval and the other half groaned in disappointment. Raven's eyes jerked up for a moment, then looked around the field again. Nearby on the sidelines the Middlington Bullfrogs cheerleaders were doing their thing to pump up the crowd… but something was missing. There were only five of them, and there wasn't a strand of red hair among them.

"Something's wrong…" Raven spoke softly before getting up to rush toward the group of cheerleaders. When they noticed her moving, Creepie, Skipper, and Budge quickly followed her across the field.

After their current routine ended Carla turned and noticed them coming, holding her pom-poms together in front of her. "So, you noticed huh?"

"Where's Chris-Alice?" Creepie asked.

"We don't know. She hasn't shown up, and we're gonna have to do our big finale soon." Carla beat her pom-poms together in front of her nervously. "This really isn't like her, she's been late for practice once or twice, but she's never missed a game. Something has to be wrong."

"Where would she go?" Skipper asked.

"Maybe she got sidetracked on the way here." Budge suggested.

"I don't think so." Raven turned away from the others. "We should go look for her, I really don't have a good feeling about this."

"Agreed. Skipper, Budge, split up and call us if you see her anywhere." Creepie's wings lifted slightly and beat at the air before she took off into the bright afternoon sky. Skipper and Budge went their separate ways away from the football game, and Raven marched in her own direction, her eyes flitting up buildings and down the length of every alley she passed.

Middlington was pretty quiet today, Raven noticed. Almost eerily quiet, really. Or maybe she just wasn't paying attention, too focused on looking for Chris-Alice. She had hardly ever thought about the girl before beyond their working relationship, but after the other night Raven felt somehow burdened to make sure nothing happened to her. Well, maybe burdened wasn't the right word for it… but for whatever reason, she just wanted Chris-Alice to be okay.

"Chris-Alice!" She heard Creepie shout from overhead as her blue form flitted back and forth through the air, then vanished quickly from sight again over some buildings. Raven walked from streets to street, her fingers snaking their way into her blouse pocket to finger her cell phone as she went. It seemed like a long time had passed… it hadn't taken them nearly this long to find her last time. Her bad feeling was only getting worse.

"Chris-Alice!" She raised her voice as high as she could, abandoning her usual cool detachment in the hope of finding the girl before her bad feeling proved itself correct. "Chris-Alice! Where did you go!?" She shouted even louder and picked up the pace, her heart racing in her chest as she ran down the sidewalk. Something bad was happening… she was sure it was now. "CHRIS-ALIIIIIIIICE!" She screamed and rounded the corner down another street, continuing the desperate search.

TO BE CONTINUED


	4. Chapter 4

Happy Girl Part 4

"Chris-Alice!" "Where did you go!?" "Please say something!" She heard her friends' voices moving through the streets, Creepie's, Budge's, Skipper's, and Raven's voices. From her perch up here on the top of the town hall spire in the middle of town she could see them moving through the streets little bigger than ants, their shouts easily echoing up through the air to reach her. Creepie was flitting back and forth through the air, but she never looked up or she would have seen Chris-Alice there. She kept looking down, everywhere Chris-Alice wasn't.

Chris-Alice had gotten up that morning not feeling particularly bad… she'd felt a bit numb, but to be honest she'd gotten used to that. It was a weekend, so she'd gotten dressed in her cheerleading outfit for the big game and set out to make her way to the field but… then she just never went. She would have just humiliated herself anyway with her sloppy performance and the bandage that was still wrapped around her head from her fall last night.

So how had she gotten up here? She climbed, obviously, but she hadn't really been thinking about why she was doing it. As she'd gotten used to lately, she'd been trying not to think at all. It was a technique that worked well enough over the last six months, keeping herself busy and occupied, but as she'd climbed the building her blank mind was just filled with thoughts and memories. Some of Dr. Gerald the night of the incident as she sat in front of him with the gun in her hand, others of his wife and children as his funeral crying. The worst was when, instead of him, she saw her friends lying in the expanding pool of blood. Would it have been different if she had killed one of them? Even he'd had people who loved him, a family. She supposed, in the end, she wondered if she really deserved to live if he didn't. Sure, he did some bad things… but so did everyone.

She barely noticed her tears dripping to the rooftop below her perch, falling from eyes that stared blankly at the ground far below her. As the hours passed and the sun moved toward the Western horizon the sunlight faded from bright and vibrant to an almost eerie dull red color. It looked like the pool of blood from her mind had spilled out onto the streets of Middlington, as if she really had done it to all of her friends. Who was to say it wouldn't happen, someday? She'd done it once, what if she did it again?

"Chris-Alice." Chris-Alice blinked and looked down in surprise when she heard a voice call from the gently sloping rooftop below the spire on which she was perched. She saw Raven just pulling herself up over the edge, panting from the effort but eventually getting to her feet to approach the spire at a slow walk. "What are you doing up here?"

"I… I'm not really sure." Chris-Alice chuckled genuinely through her tears. "Pretty silly, huh?"

Raven didn't laugh. "You need to come down from there, Chris-Alice. Everyone in town is looking for you by now. They even decided to postpone the game to look for you."

"Oh, that's too bad." Chris-Alice sighed. "I know everyone was looking forward to it… I didn't want to ruin it, but I guess I did anyway."

Raven stared up at her for a moment, then moved closer and opened her arms. "Look, we think you're sick. What happened six months ago, it messed with your head… you're not thinking clearly. We want to get you some help."

"Help?" Chris-Alice blinked, then chuckled again. "Whatever it is I should be able to beat it… like daddy always tells me, Hollyrullers always win."

"No, they don't. Not alone." Raven said firmly.

Chris-Alice stared down at her for a long while, then clutched tighter at the spire. "I met Dr. Gerald's family… I even went to his funeral." She smiled through her tears. "They were very nice people… they didn't know I was the one who…" She looked down, then up at Raven again. "Do you think Dr. Gerald should have died?"

"I don't know." Raven shook her head. "I wasn't there." She moved closer still.

"I don't think so." Chris-Alice stared thoughtfully at the street again. "You say I'm sick in the head… maybe he was sick in the head too. Maybe if he'd gotten help, he could have gone back to his family. Maybe I'm the one who deserves to-"

"Don't say that!" Raven startled Chris-Alice by snapping suddenly. "You don't, you just don't. You can't change the past, Chris-Alice, and nobody blames you for what happened. You did what you felt you had to do at the time. If you don't believe me… just look." Raven gestured down to the streets below. Chris-Alice looked, now noticing that the number of the people in the streets had grown so thick that they really did look like a swarm of ants. "They're all looking for you, Chris-Alice. They left their game, their homes, their lives, just to make sure that you're okay. They think you're a great person... and so do I. You're just sick, is all."

"I'm sick…" Chris-Alice repeated, as if finally acknowledging it as the truth. She stared down at Raven steadily. "You think… they can help me?"

"I think they can… and I know all of your friends are going to be here to do what they can." Raven raised her arms up toward her. "I know I'll be here, if nothing else."

Chris-Alice looked past her at the street, then down at Raven again before letting go of the spire. She fell from her perch… right into Raven's arms, her weight knocking them both to the gently sloping roof, where they rolled over each other a short distance before coming to a stop with Chris-Alice lying on top of Raven. They remained that was for a long time, with Raven wrapping her arms tightly around Chris-Alice's torso, as if to prevent her from moving lest she jump off the roof.

Chris-Alice sniffled against her shoulder. "Thank you… for being… my friend…"

Raven smiled genuinely for the first time since Chris-Alice had met her. "It's okay to cry now, if you need to." She heard Chris-Alice giggle against her shoulder just before burying her face against her blouse, her shoulders beginning to quake violently. Raven ran her shoulders slowly up and down Chris-Alice's back. Raven had never done anything like this before, she was always a very private person… but somehow she didn't feel at all uncomfortable here. She didn't want to push her away for invading her personal space… she just wanted to make sure she was okay.

* * *

Raven waited with the others in Chris-Alice's house, sitting around the living room waiting for her to get home from her trip to the doctor. The atmosphere in the room was thick with tension. The football game had gone on after they'd found Chris-Alice, but they never did get to finish with their big cheer. Chris-Alice hadn't been allowed to return to the game, instead rushed away from her friends for testing and observation. Now weeks later, the school year was almost over and finally Chris-Alice was on her way home. They were all glad… but still nobody could speak.

When the door opened however everybody got to their feet and turned to watch Chris-Alice enter with her mother walking inside with her. Chris-Alice blinked in surprise when she saw them, then flashed them a smile that, though bright, seemed like a shadow of its former self. "Hey guys… what's up?"

"Chris-Alice!" Creepie broke the gathered friends' silence and approached Chris-Alice first. "How did it go? What did they say?"

"They gave me these pills to help get rid of the visions." Chris-Alice looked up at her mother with a soft smile. "I think they're working. I haven't seen anything for days."

"I'm glad you're feeling better." Creepie smiled, as the others softly echoed her sentiment with smiles on their faces.

"Thanks, everyone." Chris-Alice's smile remained firm as her bright green eyes flitted from person to person, only to hesitate when they reached Raven, who had taken up a position in the back of the crowd. Everyone else turned to look at Raven, causing her to blush lightly at the sudden rush of attention.

"What are you all looking at?" Raven demanded.

"Raven, can I talk to you in the other room?" Chris-Alice approached her through the crowd. Raven still didn't like the attention, and escaping the prying eyes of the others sounded like a good idea, so she nodded and turned to follow the redhead into the kitchen. Chris-Alice walked over to the counter and took a deep breath before turning back to Raven. "I can't thank you, Raven, thanking you just doesn't seem like enough for what you did for me. You saved my life... and my sanity."

"Anyone would've done the same thing." Raven blushed again. "I just happened to be the one who found you."

"Twice." Chris-Alice giggled softly and moved closer to her with her hands clasped behind her back. "Seems like a lot for someone who said she wasn't really my friend before."

"Come on, I didn't mean it like THAT…" Raven rubbed the back of her neck. "I like you well enough, we just never hung out much."

"Well, I'd like to start hanging out with you." Chris-Alice took both of her hands, holding them in a gentle grip. "If you want to."

"Sure, that doesn't sound like a bad idea." Raven agreed. "Did you have something in mind?"

"Actually, I was thinking about doing something for the Middle School Graduation Show, but I kind of need your help to do it. You and your band." Chris-Alice put her hands together in front of her. "It feels wrong to ask for a favor right now, but I really, really need your help."

"Sure thing, just tell me what you need."

Chris-Alice smiled broader than before and began to tell her her plan.

* * *

The crowd made up of other students and parents was jam packed into the Middlington Middle School Auditorium, almost everybody in town was here since they all had children enrolled in the school. It was a small, tight-knit town who always gathered in support of one another, no matter how silly the occasion seemed to some people. Now they gathered to watch the students say goodbye to the old school that they'd known for the last few years.

Miss Monseratte approached the microphone on the front of the stage as the curtains closed behind her. "Thank you very much Harry for that… startling display of hair knowledge." She cleared her throat and smiled at the gathered audience. "I have to admit, it always makes me sad to watch my students leave this school for the last time. That is why I started this tradition, to see them shine their brightest with the knowledge they learned from the fine teachers of Middlington Middle School." She mumbled under her breath. "Some of them, anyway."

"So without further interruption, our final performance for the night is from Creepie Creecher and the Plaid Vapors." She clapped along with the audience as she moved out of the way of the curtain. It slid open slowly, revealing the four members of the band standing on the stage with their instruments at hand. They all exchanged a glance before Raven took up her electric guitar and began to strum rapidly in a lightning-fast motion.

"Wait!" The guitar strumming stopped suddenly as a small form rushed out onto the stage from the audience, rushing up to the microphone with her red ponytail bouncing behind her. Chris-Alice smiled apologetically back at the band. "Sorry to interrupt, but I just have to say a few things, if that's okay." Raven nodded and sat down on the stool she'd brought out on stage, while the other three members of the band relaxed in their own ways. "Thanks so much." Chris-Alice turned back to the audience.

"This last year, a lot happened to me, and to my friend Creepie." Chris-Alice gestured back to Creepie, who was watching with a steady gaze. "If we didn't have a school full of such great friends, things probably would have been a lot harder for us than they were. After Creepie changed the way she did, people could have laughed, or freaked out, or made fun of her. Nobody did any of those things… and then recently I had kind of a tough spot myself."

Creepie smiled through tears that gathered at the edges of her eyes. "You could have made fun of me too, but nobody did. Miss Monseratte, Dr. Pappas, and all of the students and teachers of Middlington Middle School, thank you so much for understanding and being there for me, for looking for me when I just wanted to lose myself. Most of all… thank you Raven, for being the one to find me when I was so close to the edge." She glanced back at Raven, who again looked disconcerted at being singled out this way.

Chris-Alice turned back to the audience again, visibly struggling to make herself talk. "I'm moving past Middlington Middle School now, but I'll never forget it, or any of you. You all changed my life, and without you, I wouldn't be… wouldn't be…" Suddenly Raven and Misery Whispers set aside their electric instruments, changing them out for a pair of acoustic guitars, while Creepie set her bagpipes off to the side and lifted a harmonica from the side of the stage. "Well… without you all, I probably wouldn't be here. Thank you, thank you so much more than I can say. It was you… all of you who gave me hope again."

She turned away from the microphone, looking over to the side of the stage. Suddenly Skipper stood and sent a pink cowboy hat soaring onto the stage, which Chris-Alice caught and spun onto her head as she turned back to the crowd while Raven began to strum at the acoustic guitar with the ease of years of practice. Chris-Alice swayed back and forth with the music, tapping her heel on the stage as the rest of the band kicked in, waiting a moment before she leaned forward to sing.

"I used to live in a darkened room. Had a face of stone, and a heart of gloom. Lost my hope I was so far gone. Crying all my tears with the curtains drawn. I didn't know until my soul broke free. I got these angels watching over me!" She glanced back at Raven quickly, then turned to face forward again. The crowd quickly began to get into the performance, clapping their hands and stomping their feet in time to the music as Chris-Alice's performance continued.

Lights flashed on the stage as the performance went on, with Chris-Alice's smile adding to the strength of the music. It was so joyous and infectious there wasn't a straight face in the house. Even Raven felt her typically dour spirits lifted by the performance. Watching Chris-Alice dance and celebrate made her feel good in ways she'd never known before. What was this she was feeling, exactly? Oh well, it wasn't important right now. At least Chris-Alice looked happy.

"Oooohhh watch me go. I'm a happy girl and I've come to know. That the world won't change just 'cuz I complain. Let the axis twirl, I'm a happy girl. Oh watch me go. I'm a happy girl, everybody knows. That the sweetest thing that you'll ever see in the whole wide world is a happy girl." As the last note rang out over the audience, they all jumped to their feet in thunderous applause. There were certainly worse ways to leave behind a portion of their lives. Sure, they were just moving from one school to another… but there was something special about this school. It was a shame to leave it, but life moved on.

The moon was bright and full as Chris-Alice and Raven made their way out of the school gymnasium, laughing and walking side-by-side down the walkway to the street. Raven was feeling unusually jubilant walking beside the lighthearted redhead, as if her heart was flying through the soft clouds that hovered in the night sky overhead. She looked over at Chris-Alice, who slipped her arm around Raven's waist companionably with a broad grin on her lips.

"I can't thank you enough for playing that song for me." Chris-Alice said. "I know you're not a big fan of Country music."

"Hey, it was… different." Raven smiled back, feeling very relaxed walking through the brisk evening breeze. "Actually, to be honest, it was kind of fun, and you're a terrific singer."

"Me? Nahh!" Chris-Alice blushed.

"It's true. I didn't know you could do that with your voice. Usually it's so… squeaky." Raven grimaced.

Chris-Alice laughed a shrill laugh that would have normally grate don Raven's nerves, but now sounded almost pleasant. "If I'm squeaky, does that make you a bass?" Chris-Alice smiled teasingly.

"I guess it does." Raven chuckled along with her, looking up at the dark sky above them.

Chris-Alice stopped walking after a few moments and Raven stopped with her, looking over at her face curiously. Her bright green eyes reflected the pale light of the moon perfectly, looking completely white for a moment before she looked over at Raven again. "Raven, can I ask you something?"

"Of course." Raven nodded.

"Would it be okay if we started High School as friends?" Chris-Alice blinked cutely, her long eyelashes twinkling in the moonlight. Raven stared at her drolly for a moment, then nodded.

"Sure, I'd actually like that." Raven replied. Chris-Alice grinned and moved her hand to grip Raven's hand as she resumed walking with a new spring in her step. Raven paced her, letting Chris-Alice hold onto her hand as they went. Something felt very strange to her, for some reason. Something was welling up deep inside her that she couldn't name. What was it? Was it directed at Chris-Alice? Well, she supposed it didn't matter right now. Time would sort it out eventually.

THE END: see you next time

(Song "Happy Girl" by Martina McBride)


End file.
